REIGN FINAL – Reign 1, Roadrunners 3 – Sturm, Dudas, Clarke

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• News post

• Jared Shafran

After trading goals in the first period, a power play goal by Jean-Sebastien Dea was enough offense for the Tucson Roadrunners (10-5-1-0) to defeat the Ontario Reign (9-6-0-1) in the teams’ first matchup of 2022-23 to begin a two-game weekend series on Saturday night at Toyota Arena.

• Aidan Dudas
• Brandt Clarke
• Jacob Moverare

• Marco Sturm

# Marco Sturm

I think tonight was more about us. We had a really good week. I thought we had a good game here [Wednesday] and had a good practice, but we were kind of flat today. Especially in the first period, Tucson was just quicker than us. It was a tight game. We had our chance in the third with the power play and could’ve made a different, and we didn’t, so that was it. [Tucson] keeps things really tight. They play a solid team game. We knew that before the game today, but I think it was just more on us.

[Brandt Clarke]’s been great. I think only in his first game, everything seemed new for him. Since then, he was outstanding. He gets involved. He’s a special kid. Like I said, he’s on the ice and then all of the sudden he shows up in front of the net and has a really good chance. Defensively he has to be more aware, but he wants to go [to the net], and its good. I think that we don’t have a player in this organization like him and I think he will be good for us in the future.

Not just as a player, but that shows the kind of person that [Jacob Moverare] is too. He has been great. We all love him; the players, the coaches. Today, that [fight] doesn’t surprise us. He’s been outstanding and that’s good for him. It should jack the other guys up and they should get all excited for this, and hopefully tomorrow, that happens.

# Aidan Dudas

I think I still need to build more consistency in my game. It’s nice now to be in my third year and feel more confident out there and make the right plays, but I think the biggest thing for me is just a little bit more consistency. I think I’m just trying to get to the net more often. When I find myself in a little slump, I think getting into the dirty areas and getting a little more gritty helps me get back in the flow of the game. I think that’s been one of the biggest things for me [this season].

I think we need to find more consistency as a team, as well. We kind of started off slow, gave up a couple odd-man rushes, but I think for us, we know we have the ability in our room. We have the talent. We have the skill. We have the players to win every game and I think it just comes down to being mentally prepared. I think we’ve got to put that game behind us. Obviously, we’ll look at things but the game is done and over with. There’s not much else we can do other than get ready for tomorrow.